West End Blues
| "West End Blues" | |
|---|---|
| Twelve-bar blues by Joe "King" Oliver | |
| Released | 1928 |
| Recorded | June 11, 1928 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Label | Brunswick |
| Composer(s) | Joe "King" Oliver |
| "West End Blues" | |
|---|---|
| Twelve-bar blues by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five | |
| Released | 1928 |
| Recorded | June 28, 1928 |
| Genre | Traditional jazz, blues |
| Label | Okeh |
| Composer(s) | Joe "King" Oliver |
"West End Blues" is a multi-strain twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental, although it has lyrics added by Clarence Williams.
King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators made the first recording for Brunswick Records on June 11, 1928. Clarence Williams later added lyrics to the instrumental tune. He recorded the song several times in 1928, first with vocals Ethel Waters, then with Hazel Smith (with King Oliver playing trumpet), then again with Katherine Henderson.
The "West End" of the title refers to the westernmost point of Lake Pontchartrain in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. In its heyday, it was a thriving summer resort with live music, dance pavilions, seafood restaurants, and lake bathing.
By far the best known recording of "West End Blues" is the 3-minute-plus, 78 RPM recording made by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five on June 28, 1928.
Armstrong plays trumpet and sings, backed by a band including pianist Earl Hines, clarinetist Jimmy Strong, trombonist Fred Robinson, banjoist Mancy Carr and drummer Zutty Singleton on hand cymbals. Armstrong's unaccompanied opening cadenza is considered to be one of the defining moments of early jazz, incorporating a rhythmic freedom that anticipated many later musical developments. Also notable is Armstrong's scat vocal chorus (in a duet with clarinetist Strong), and a piano solo by Hines. The final chorus is dominated by a four-bar (12-second) long high Bb note played by Armstrong. The number is closed by the metallic click of drummer Zutty Singleton's cymbals.
This recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1979.
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